Les Lapidiales

An open-air sculptures musuem that evolves every year, this place is a constent wonder ! The idea of ​​this unique site in France goes to Alain Tenenbaum, a sculptor wishing to "create a space of art in perpetual evolution where sculptors of all countries, over the decades, will work for the common work that will testify before future generations of their state of men in their time ". In 2001, the Lapidiales invested the old quarry Chabossières, Port d'Envaux and since the teams of sculptors have succeeded to give life to the huge walls of white limestone. In 2022, the Galaxy of the standing stones open to public to present a work of 365 carved megaliths by 365 sculptors from all around the world, it’s unique in the world. This work in constant evolution will welcome each year, for 40 years, 8 new sculptures to represent cultures from the 5 continents. The place now offers visitors an open-air museum, free and open access, where the excavations left by the quarry give the impression of being in the middle of a giant labyrinth and where one likes to discover the sculptures grouped by theme: "The monument to the dead for nothing", "From the abyss to the azure", "In the belly of the world", "Earth, planet, life", "The imagination of the river". The "Chemin de la pierre", a marked route of about 10 km, allows from the village of Port d'Envaux, along the Charente by the old towpath, to reach the village of Crazannes, passing through the castles of Panloy and Crazannes. The route is at the Pole-nature of the Pierre de Crazannes, whose museum space offers an evocation of the history of the extraction of stone in Saintonge, then the path joins the Lapidiales site.